Friday, 24 January 2014

No.10990, 24 January 2014, Afterdark

For a moment I thought it was a journey into space, Earth, Titan,  Saturn...
(If Pluto is counted, they are also in the order one might encounter them)

ACROSS
1 Earth’s despair (6,5) BROKEN HEART (EARTH)* Rev.Anag.
9 Look into the river Mina foolishly got in (7) EXAMINE (MINA* in EXE)
10 National serial I produced (7)  ISRAELI (SERIAL I)*
11 For example, take a monarch to be keen (5) EAGER (A in EG. ER)
12 No matter how difficult, stay act on reform (2,3,4) AT ANY COST (STAY ACT ON)*
13 Superman’s watch, perhaps! (5) TITAN CD/DD
15 Sales isn’t manipulated, it is clean (9) STAINLESS (SALES ISN'T)*
          Eversilver
18 Assort the assembled instruments (9) RHEOSTATS (ASSORT THE)*
21 Agitation in state park (5) UPSET (U.P. SET)
22 Agitated trade-unions do leave sombre (9) SATURNINE (TRADE UNIONS-DO)*
24 More favourable sentence for returning salesman (5) RIPER (R.I. REP<)
          London murderer lost half of his money!
26 Orange juice and egg seasoned with herb… (7) OREGANO (ORANGE O)*
27 Cancel injecting accountant with a catheter (7) CANNULA (ANNUL in C.A.)

28 Bone operated by nun’s as heard on radios (11) TRANSISTORS (T RAN ~SISTERS)
DOWN
1 Buzzer’s record accepted with hesitation by warden (9) BEEFEATER (BEE FEAT ER)
2 Malay person foraging wildly to remove fruit (5) ORANG (FORAGING-FIG)*
3 Gives out instalment earlier for repatriates (9) EMIGRANTS (EMI GRANTS)
4 He! he was mad making donkey sounds (3-4) HEE-HAWS (HE HE WAS)*
5 Short excuse by a graduate about a novel character (3,4) ALI BABA (ALIBi A BA)
6 Strive to include After Dark’s initials in last minute (5) TARDY (A.D. in TRY)
7 Followers choose to jump inside river at South (8) DEVOTEES (VOTE in DEE S)
8 Cast metal on time (4) TINT (TIN T)
14 Attempts to eat in conventions (8) TREATIES (EAT in TRIES)
16 Particles knight misplaced, so added iodine particles (9) NEUTRINOS (NEUTRONS with N misplaced and I added)
17 Instructs an obnoxious person to come in at weekends (9) SATURDAYS (A TURD in SAYS)
          Type of guy who says : Extrude me, please. I don't want to raise a stink about it! 
19 Music section endless in American state (7) ARIZONA (ZONe in ARIA)
20 Parlours in ship take money (7) SPENCES (PENCE in SS) New word for me
22 Initially, Supreme Court ordered to nab foreign national (4) SCOT (S C O T)
23 Reply about performance (5) REACT (RE ACT)
25 Mickey’s pet with our forgotten neighbour! (5) PLUTO 2
          A far fetched neighbour, now thrown out of the league of planets

27 comments:

  1. 17D (TURD in SAYS) - annotation should be A TURD in SAYS

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  2. Any more budding setters out there? I need contributions for the Sunday specials

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  3. 6 Strive to include After Dark’s initials in last minute (5) TARDY (A.D. in TRY)

    Is this accepted? AD inserted and split by R in the fodder. In case of removing AD it's O.K if the order is followed.

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    Replies
    1. I have on one occasion seen a clue in a UK crossword where two letters are to be inserted one apart from the other (that is, in different places within a given word) but that operation was indicated by a suitable instruction.

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    2. Or is it acceptable because the clue says include 'initials', which is not an abbreviation of Afterdark, that that rule does not apply?

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    3. I had the same doubt Raghu. An indicator that it is split should normally be there

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  4. Spence as a parlour has anything to do with the name 'Spencers'?

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  5. Worked for a long time on plastic extruders causing a lot of stink (the fumes I mean, not me!). But never knew the word 'Turd'.

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  6. Kishore,
    Re.the cartoon, what does the 'wastage' consist of? Better it is not said?

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    Replies
    1. beefeater (ˈbiːfˌiːtə)
      n
      1. (Military) a nickname often applied to the Yeomen of the Guard and the Yeomen Warders at the Tower of London

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    2. Sorry. Didn't notice MB's reply below.

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  7. A nice puzzle from AD.

    Have a doubt in 1 Down. Beefeater = Yeoman warder or Yeoman of the Guard in the tower of London. So says OED. Warder = A prison guard. Hence, in the clue 'warder' could have sounded better than 'warden', I feel.

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  8. I am not able to understand the connection of warden with beefeater.

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  9. Many * s too...
    ALIBi BA BA Typo ALIBi A BA

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  10. 26A : Orange juice and egg seasoned with herb… (7) OREGANO (ORANGE O)

    What is the juicy anagrind here pl, 'juice' or 'seasoned' ?

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    Replies
    1. I think "juice" is the anagrind and O stands for egg. But seasoned with herb leads to a verb, but OREGANI is a noun. So there's something amiss.

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    2. I took juice an the anagrind and seasoned to mean added to ( i.e O is added to )

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    3. I'll treat 'juice' as an anagrind along with 'seasoned', otherwise 'seasoned' is redundant but required for surface.

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    4. RJ's reply does make sense.

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  11. Padmanabhan @9:21

    Spencer’s has been a part of the Indian retail landscape since 1863. There was a time when their retail empire stretched from Peshawar to Cochin, from Karachi to Chittagong, spanning the length and width of undivided India. Originally owned by a British gentleman – Mr. John William Spencer, it acquired Indian ownership in the 1960s, and became part of the RPG Group in 1989.

    Princess Di's maiden name was also Diana Spencer.

    More on the origin of the surname at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_(surname)

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  12. 19Dn ARIZONA also has an indirect link to the theme.

    John Carter, the lead character in the first novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs 'A Princess of Mars', set on a fictionalized version of Mars known as Barsoom, strikes it rich by finding gold in Arizona. While hiding from Apaches in a cave, he appears to die; leaving his inanimate body behind, he is mysteriously transported by a form of astral projection to the planet Mars where, after a series of adventures, he wins the hand of a Martian princess, Dejah Thoris of Helium, and later saves Barsoom from the loss of its atmosphere.

    While Burroughs is famous for his Tarzan stories, not many know him for his series on Barsoom (Mars), Venus, Moon, Pellucidar and Caspak. The 2012 Disney feature film 'John Carter' marked the 100th anniversary of the character's first appearance.

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  13. 22A : Definition 'sombre' to be highlighted pl.

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  14. Nice CW.esp.22a&1,7d. 2d tricky clue. 20d & 27a I was enlightened (by) Afterdark. Quiet enjoyable. Thank u AD.

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  15. So many new lights by Afterdark. Eg: NEUTRINO and SPENCES. Thanks , Afterdark Nice creative crossie.

    Kishore: I wish the drainage system in our country is as NEAT as your cartoon !! Instead of WASTAGE- DOWN THE DRAIN would have been more appropriate--like the money being literally poured into the drainage system under the never-ending sewage improvement scheme here in Coimbatore which seems to be a bottomless pit latrine. So much of TURD !! raising such a a high stink!

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